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Tag: New Math

What is it about new math? How come it seems that new math never gets old?

Well I was looking through some videos and found this one which I thought you’d all like to see. It’s all about learningnew math!

New Math – Tom Lehrer
Hi All… I hope that you enjoy watching my video! I am a Primary School Teacher from Australia and could not resist animating this Tom Lehrer classic. Tom Lehrer is a brilliant lyricist, and I think that this video will be a lot of fun during parent information evenings. I realise that my video is similar to some other YouTube submissions; however I have created my own animation and changed the musical arrangement slightly. Hopefully I will get some hits and people will enjoy watching it. If it does prove popular, I will post some more in the not too distant future.

I was reading an article and thought I’d share it with you. Do you know someone like this?

Math Tutor– Hit A Home Run On Your Next Report Card

Jackie was a kid that excelled in just about everything. And, from the beginning of her school career no one would have ever suspected that she would need a math tutor. Why she was great at everything from spelling and reading to her favorite sport, softball; she was a super star. Excellent report cards and perfect grade point averages were all commonplace for Jackie as she made her way through elementary and middle school. Jackie always had a knack for picking up any subject with ease. Being a quick study throughout those younger years gave her great confidence to try just about anything. And when a subject gave her a bit of difficulty, Jackie just devoted more time and effort into her study.

But, as time when on the subjects became more challenging for her. The concepts became increasingly more complex and the curriculum much more rigorous, especially mathematics. And, most specifically trigonometry. When Jackie began high school her trouble with these sophisticated math concepts left her in the batter’ s box. This sudden trouble with mathematics threw with Jackie a curve ball. And, no amount of study could help her swing it. From the trigonometry ratios, to trigonometry equations to trigonometry intervals, Jackie was beginning to think she was going to strike out before the first trimester was up.

But, Jackie’s parents still knew that she could make the grade. However, they did not feel that they could explain any of these concepts to her as they themselves had no understanding of them. But, they would do anything for their little girl. And so, since they noticed how much she was studying without making any headway on her own, they were starting to become concerned about how much time she was spending on trigonometry. So, they started looking for a math tutor to help her through these difficult concepts.

Jackie and her new math tutor met after school twice a week for two hours each session. And, like most math tutors, Jackie’s was college mathematics major with a great knowledge and understanding of all mathematics concepts. After a few weeks of meeting Jackie began to understand some of the concepts that were alluding her. Soon, she began to understand all the functions of trigonometry. And, after one trimester, her trigonometry grade went from a low C- to a promising B+. Of course, being the over achiever that she is, Jackie wanted to make a triple play in the form of an A+, but she was willing to keep working with her math tutor to make that happen. And, by the end of the year Jackie had all her bases covered and was doing so well that she was ready for calculus.

Before your child or student falls too far behind, finding a math tutor bellevue, Washinton residents can rely on can be essential in developing a fully rounded education. To find someone who can help, visit: www.tutordoctorwa.com/.

For those of you in the Cherry Hill, NJ area, please look into our after school math tutoring programs. We make it easy for your student to learn math and get better grades!

Since we’ve discussed the benefit of using math games for helping the math learning process, I thought it might be a good idea to show you some examples of some good math games that are currently available.

So here is a list of good math games that are excellent for helping to learn math and which are reasonably priced (all under $20.).

Math becomes an adventure with this addition and subtraction game that takes kids on a journey through Sum Swamp. They’ll make their way over the crocodile shortcut and through the endless loop by adding and subtracting the numbers on the dice. Includes 12″ x 17″ game board, four swamp critter markers, two number dice and operation die. For 2-4 players.

Learning valuable money skills is “in the bag” as you collect, count and exchange money all the way to the finish line. This educational game includes a 17″ x 12″ game board with spinner, 100 plastic coins, play bills, markers and a die. For 2-4 players.

Our tactile wooden block game combines the logic and strategy of Set® with the creative multi-maneuver game play of Scrabble®. Easy-to-learn rules mean you’ll be creating columns and rows of matching colors and shapes in no time! Look for opportunities to score big by placing a tile that touches multiple pieces and matches both shapes and colors; the player with the most points wins. 108 blocks.

It’s as easy as 1, 2, 3. Players add, or subtract, 1, 2, or 3 to the number on the top card on the pile to determine if they have a card that can be played next. Sounds simple, but with everyone playing simultaneously, the options are constantly changing. The first player out of cards wins.

2-4 players.

3 minutes to learn.

Plays in less than 5 minutes.

Great family or classroom game.

Product Measures: 6.0 IN x 5.0 IN x 2.0 IN.

Recommended Ages: 8 & Up.

These should all be lots of fun to play and in the process, help you or your child learn math!

In Charlotte, North Carolina, the Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District has made drastic changes to their math curriculum. When their test scores were not improving my much more than three percent, the school district decided to implement Texas Instruments’’ MathForward program to help students with their math skills. The MathForward program helps to increase algebra readiness and math performance in middle school students.

The program is a comprehensive approach to math reform, it increases the instructional time, which allows students to memorize formulas better and study longer. This helps students a lot because with a subject like math, because math is a subject that requires a lot of study time and class time to fully understand the concepts of math. If a student merely memorizes the math formulas in a one-hour classroom setting, they wont retain the information and that’s what this program is trying to do, They want students to retain information for long time use, instead of memorizing just for the upcoming test. Schools want students to do well on their standardized tests, which will help improve the schools ratings. By helping this students retain the math knowledge, not only will it help Improve the schools ratings, but it will help the students to be better prepared for math courses they take in high school and college down the road.

Another way that MathForward helps increase students test score is by increasing the teacher’s knowledge in the subject. They create special math trainings for teachers on new ways to teach math and new math lessons that will be beneficial to teaching the students. This is good because it is always important to have on going trainings in teachers subjects because it keeps them from becoming monotonous in their lesson plans and keeps things fresh for their students. By giving the teachers continuous coaching and classes that helps develop their effective teaching skills, students will benefit and feel more confident in their knowledge of the math subject, since the teachers that are teaching it are extremely knowledgeable on the subject.

They are also using technology to motivate the students by creating programs along with MathForward to assist students in math. The students will be more focused and interested when technology is introduced because it is something new and something that will help break up the monotonous subject of math. They will also have administrators and parents involved in backing up the MathForward program to help credit the program and give the students confidence that this program really can help them. By implementing this program into the schools their test scores rose an astounding thirty-five percent, opposed to the three percent from before with just the normal math program. In schools that didn’t implement the MathForward program, they will definitely be implementing it during the following year. They are also adding forty math teachers to the district to keep up with the high demand of math teacher that the program calls for. With statistics like that, there is no arguing that MathForward works!

Don’t you just hate having to memorize things? Especially things like the multiplication tables? I know I don’t like it much so I was very interested in this article that teaches a new way for people to learn math. Check it out – I’m sure you’ll enjoy it!

A New Way to Learn Math- The Magical Math Story
By Darren Michalczuk

Some students struggle with math. These are the students who are usually out in the hall for misbehaving, quiet and withdrawn because they don’t know the answers or complaining of headaches or stomach problems from the suffering of learning math. The signs of poor math skills come in many forms, but the message is always the same. These students don’t understand numbers.

There is a way to reach these students. To help these students a teacher or parent needs to be patient, energetic and above all willing to think outside of the box. Traditional ways of teaching math simply will not work with these students. Here you will find an example of one the methods you can use to reach a student in elementary school. It is a method that has been refined over many years and has worked with hundreds of students.

There is a story, one of several stories, which actually changes how a child looks at math. Although it is an easy story to learn, it is very specific in design. It reaches auditory, kinesthetic and visual learners and includes mnemonic devices to make numbers easy to remember. It can reach students that have struggled with math for years. It is actually more effective with younger students as it helps create an understanding of math before bad habits like finger counting develop.

The story is simple: Your mother is chasing a spider around the house when she swings and accidentally breaks the window.

For parents, this story is one you can teach to a child anywhere such as in the car on your way to soccer practice, in the living room during a commercial or while taking a walk to the corner store. You can embellish the story and make it more personal, laughing about how much Mom freaks out about the spider. You can even have the child imagine the story in great detail, talking about how big the spider is and how loud it is when the window shatters. Although the core of the story can’t be changed, it is a story that will taught uniquely by each individual teacher or parent who will add their own style and energy.

This story includes several mnemonic devices. Each image represents a specific part of a math fact, for example the number eight is represented by a spider which has a body that looks like an eight and has eight legs. It includes personal connections (Mom), imagery (a black spider), and actions (breaking the window) which will make the story stick in both the short term and long term memory. It also uses tangible images like a golf club and a spider that can be remembered more easily than abstract concepts. In short, it is a story that can be easily remembered.

The usual way for a student to learn eight times nine is to add nine together eight times. Not only is this time consuming, it is also boring. By nature this method creates confusion with other math facts as none are distinct from the others. It is easy to mix up seven times eight with six times nine. The traditional method of drill and practice takes many hours and often only reaches a few of the students in a class.

In contrast, teaching math by using vivid images of a memorable story will produce markedly different results. When asked what eight times nine is a student will recall the image for eight (a spider) and nine (golf) and the story that goes with them. They will easily remember that the house (the bigger image) represents seventy as the roof is shaped like a seven and the window (the smaller image) represents two since it has two curtains. This connects all the numbers, making it easy to remember that eight times nine is seventy two. It will work for the reverse (division) just as easily. With less than twenty unique but specific stories to learn, learning the times tables can be a fun adventure.

With all due respect to the traditions that have been successful for many students, there is a way to reach those it hasn’t worked for.

Darren Michalczuk is the founder of the Brick School. He is an experienced classroom teacher who has developed many programs and resources for math, language and music. The Brick School offers quality educational posters, programs and worksheets online for elementary language arts, math and music. Materials are designed to promote effective learning strategies in an easy to understand, straight-forward format. They offer both practical solutions to learning problems and leading edge technology and techniques. It reaches both struggling students and those who need extra challenges in class.With the latest software and leading edge learning strategies, our materials are paving the way for learning. User-friendly porgrams give students instant feedback while they practice important basic skills. Lessons and study guides also include proven learning strategies and memories techniques. Please visit our website. http://brickschool.ca

So there you have it. I told you it was interesting – right? So do you think it would be easier for you to learn math this new way as opposed to doing the old memorization techniques? Drop me a comment here and let me know what you think?